15 Greatest Moments From The Sesame Street!

On November 10^th, 2009 – Sesame Street turns 40. 

And there isn’t a person who reads this website whose childhood was not somehow influenced by Big Bird and Company.  You watched Sesame Street at some point in your life – even if you don’t remember it.  And if you didn’t have a TV – you probably read a book on Sesame Street. 

Like this one: http://smollin.com/michael/tmonstr/mon001.html.

Even now, some twenty-odd years after I stopped watching – that book still cracks me up.

I can see what you’re saying now – “But Cleric, what does this have to do with Superheroes and Geek stuff?!”

Absolutely everything.

We here at Bam! Kapow! often write about our childhood memories and how movies and adaptations and remakes have butchered them.  Because we’re geeks we acknowledge the shows and cultural influences that made us who we are today.  And can any of you even imagine a childhood without Sesame Street?

Without Big Bird or Kermit?  Without Bert and Ernie?  Without Oscar the Grouch or the Count?  Without the Cookie Monster?  Without Grover?

I guarantee you, even if you haven’t watched Sesame Street since you were in Kindergarten – just saying those names brought an image of the respective Muppet to mind.  Because they are that deeply ingrained into the consciousness of our society.

Everyone has their favorite Sesame Street moments.  And these are mine – I might not have been born at the time some of these were aired – but I still remembered them somehow…

15. Madeline Kahn and Grover perform “Sing After Me”.

Madeline Kahn was one of the most beautiful and talented comedienne/performers to ever live.  Kristen Wiig, Tina Fey, and Amy Poehler can only hope to one day possess a fraction of her beauty and intelligence.  If you’ve seen Blazing Saddles – you remember clearly Kahn’s brilliant performance as the lisping Lili Von Schtupp.  “Oh it’s twue!  It’s twue!  It’s TWUE!”  In this clip, Kahn teaches Grover how to sing an echo song to hilarious results.

14. Robin Williams Gives Elmo a Stick

Elmo and Robin Williams have a lot in common.  Everyone used to love them – so both of them starting getting a LOT more screen time at the expense of others.  In Williams’ case, this resulted in a ton of crappy “comedy” movies.  Comedy is in quotes because, well, have you seen RV?  And recent seasons of Sesame Street have had far too much Elmo for my taste.  But what do I know about over-saturating the market?   In this clip Robin Williams shows Elmo how to use his imagination.  Here’s hoping Williams didn’t show Elmo how to use cocaine.

13. Bert and Ernie Become Archaeologists

You can say that Bert is pure evil.  But then you’d be an idiot.  You can say Bert and Ernie have homosexual subtext if you want.  But then you’d be a bigger idiot.  But you cannot deny that these two have a chemistry together that many human sitcom actors lack.  In this clip, Bert and Ernie are exploring a pyramid and Ernie finds a mummy that is ALIVE!  “You didn’t touch me…  Did you, statue?”

12. Rubber Duckie

One of the reasons the last clip was so funny was because of the Rubber Duckie song.  I’d be willing to wager that it is probably the single best song ever to come out of Sesame Street.  It’s so catchy that in 1970 it hit number 16 on the Billboard Top 100.  Holy crap!  If that isn’t a sign that Sesame Street appeals to all ages, I don’t know what is.  Fair warning – this song is INCREDIBLY catchy.  Prepare to lose your sanity as it gets stuck in your head on repeat…

11. I One the Sandbox

I’ve been talking a lot about Bert and Ernie so far, and for good reason.  These two are hilarious.  I love the way they just play off each other.  And I love the way Ernie sets Bert up in this clip (fast-forward to about 0:40 to get to the Bert and Ernie part).  And the payoff in Bert’s expression at the end is what makes it all worthwhile.

10. Ernie Sculpts a Statue of Bert

This is the last Bert and Ernie one, I promise.  Ernie really gives Bert a hard time – so when he sculpts a statue of his best friend out of clay, it’s incredibly sweet.  Too bad he ran out of clay before he could finish…

9. Mr. Hooper Isn’t Coming Back

Sometimes Sesame Street decides to take a break from the comedy.  And when it does – it results in incredibly touching moments.  When Will Lee, the actor who portrayed the shopkeeper Mr. Hooper (or “Mr. Looper” as Big Bird called him), died in 1982; Sesame Street decided to teach children a lesson about death in one of the most remarkable episodes ever.  Big Bird doesn’t understand where Mr. Hooper has gone – so the adults of the show come together to explain to our yellow friend about death and how it is okay to grieve for a loved one.  This episode was listed as one of the 10 most influential episodes in television by the Daytime Emmys and it deserved every accolade it ever received.  Big Bird’s drawing of Mr. Hooper still hangs above his nest to this day.

8. Kermit and Joey Sing the Alphabet Song

The alphabet song is how we learned our ABCs when we were young.  And Kermit was one of our best friends during those formative years.  In this clip, Kermit and a young girl named Joey sing the song.  Unfortunately for Kermit, Joey seems to delight in teasing our favorite green frog…

7. Super Grover!

Okay, Grover is my favorite Muppet on Sesame Street.  I know some people love the Count.  Others are Snuffleupagus fans.  Many, many, many people just adore Kermit – and who can blame them?  But me – I’m 100% a Grover guy.  And this is a superhero website – so I had to include my favorite Super Grover moment.  Super Grover is the most useless superhero ever – but I love him anyways.

6. I Love Trash

Not quite as catchy as the “Rubber Duckie” song above, “I Love Trash” is still a lot of fun.  Oscar’s a jerk – but he’s a jerk with a matted green heart.  I don’t know why I love this song so much, but I do.  Oscar’s probably my second favorite Sesame Street character after Grover.  I mean, he lives in a trash can!  As a kid, I dreamt of that.  It would mean I would never have to take a bath ever again in my whole entire life.

5.  C is for Cookie

You can’t have a list about Sesame Street without the Cookie Monster making an appearance.  And this is probably his seminal moment on the show.  What is most surprising about this clip is that he manages to get through a whole minute and a half before he eats the cookie.

4. Grover the Waiter

I love Super Grover.  But there is one other Grover “character” I love even more.  And that’s Grover the Waiter.  Why does Mr. Johnson always eat at Charlie’s Restaurant when Grover keeps screwing everything up?  I don’t know!  But I’m sure glad he does.  It’s led to classic bits like the Hamburger sketch, the Fly in My Soup sketch, and the above – Grover using his waiter’s memory.  “I do not have beady eyes!”

3. Mr. Noodle/Mr. Noodle’s Brother, Mr. Noodle/Ms. Noodle

There’s just something hilarious about the Noodle family.  They can’t do anything right.  Played to perfection by Bill Irwin, Kristen Chenowith, and the late Michael Jeter – the Noodles are probably the only thing about Elmo that I like.

2. Near and Far

This is the single funniest Sesame Street bit ever conceived, in my humble opinion.  Whenever I’m feeling a little down I can just watch this clip and find myself laughing my ass off.  There’s really nothing much to it – Grover demonstrates the concepts of “near” and “far” to children.  And somehow, somehow, somehow, somehow – the more he does it – the funnier it becomes.  I challenge you not to smile while watching - right up until the end when [thud]

1. Big Bird at Jim Henson’s Memorial

Jim Henson will always have a special place in every geek’s heart for his contributions to popular geek culture.  We know what they are – no need to rehash it.  When Henson passed away in 1990 – it almost seemed as if the entire world stopped.  There were many moments at Henson’s memorial that stood out, including the touching production of Henson’s favorite song, “Just One Person”.

But there wasn’t a moment in the memorial more touching than Big Bird singing Kermit the Frog’s signature song, “It Ain’t Easy, Bein’ Green”.  Jim Henson portrayed the voice of Kermit until his death – and listening the voice of the puppeteer nearly crack with emotion as Big Bird gives a send-off to his best buddy is enough to melt the stoniest heart.  And even if you are heartless, when our big yellow friend looks up to the sky and says “Thank you, Kermit” before trudging off in silence…

This list is just a list of my favorite moments – everyone is going to have different part of the show that spoke to them in one way or another.  But this week, as we celebrate Sesame Street’s 40^th birthday, I hope you will all reflect on how much the show affected your childhood.

I guess there’s nothing left to say but thank you, Mr. Henson.  Thank you all the actors, producers, writers, puppeteers, techies, and musicians that brought Sesame Street to life.  You’ve made my life all the better by being in it.  Thank you, and from all of us here at Bam! Kapow!, have a Happy 40^th Birthday!